Masteries

Offense:
0

Defense:
21

Utility:
9

Introduction

Galio used to be my "best" champion a while back when I started playing and was the 3rd champion I ever bought. It was just after his big nerf when i joined so he was probably at his weakest but even so I really enjoyed playing him and had relative success with him. Since then I moved on to better champions and although galio got 2 decent buffs since then I never really went back to play him and neither did most galio players.

After I read the patch notes today I tried him out again and to my suprise he is a LOT better than I remembered. His Q is an amazing poke and does incredible damage for a tank, if combined with his E it can clear a full caster wave at lv5. His ult is amazing as it has always been and his shield still remains one of the strongest in the game (albeit with a short duration). So this is the build I've used on him for those few games and how I play galio.

After the patch it will need an update but when you consider galio is only going to get better I have high hopes for this champion.

Pros / Cons

Pros:
-Ultimate is probably the best AoE CC ability in the game. 2.5 second taunt followed up by a pretty nasty nuke all coupled with damage reduction is immense.
-With the possible exception of Moakai galio is the best harassing tank to date. Q is almost godlike for poking
-Your ult will mean that as long as it is up your not going to loose a turret in your lane.
-When self-shielding you are nigh-on invincible later game.
-A strong slow, a very strong speed boost and an AoE taunt gives you a pretty large amount of CC and support ability. Not as much as some other tanks but certainly a lot.
-Decent base damage, decent ratios and your passive will allow you to do a LOT of damage to squishies. Q+E is about 35% of the HP off any squishy, add in your ult and they are as good as dead.
-All your damage is AoE, this makes you an INCREDIBLE team fighter.
-Amazing at setting up ganks in his lane, junglers will love galio.

Cons:
-One of the squishier tanks, especially early game with this build.
-Long cooldowns mean a lot of the time you will feel kinda useless (your not but it feels like it)
-No hard CC other than your ult.
-You need pretty decent farm and your a melee champ, if you can get solo lane this isn't a problem but in double lanes you can find yourself a bit lacking in gold, galio needs a jungler on his team to truly succeed.

Runes

Mpen Marks are the only thing your going to want on galio in terms of offensive reds.

Mp5/lv seals are kinda needed on galio. Without them he has horrible mana issues, with you still hurt early but after catalyst your tend to be fine. You CAN take armour but it will massively hurt your harassing power.

MR/lv glyphs are purely the best choice. They give you 12.15 AP at lv18 aswell due to your passive. Nothing else is a s good.

AP Quints, these are really up to you what you take. Movespeed, HP, MR, Mp5 quints are all fantastic but the bonus AP you get early game will make your poke hurt a TON and will make farming a lot easier as without them you cannot clear caster waves until lv7, with you can 2 lvs earlier. And when in a 1v2 lane you need that ability or you can get badly out-farmed.

Masteries & Summoner Spells

0/21/9

I grab the strength of spirit over dodge because due to starting with a mana crystal then RoA it will give you a lot more sustainability in lane. Otherwise it's fairly standard for a tank.

Flash:
Allows you to position your ult a lot easier in team fights and gives you an easier time escaping ganks. Ghost works almost as well but you can loose the element of surprise with it.

Teleport:
Your ulti is incredible for saving towers AND lives. Since you should take solo top with galio it will also give you that laning advantage that really gives you an edge.

Items

Why Mana Crystal over Ruby???

Well your not going to go b until your can get catalyst, and mana allows you to get 1 pot of each type. Red pot gives you +200HP which is better than a crystal and with your masteries it even gives you health regen. It gives so much more sustainability.

Once you have your catalyst you are going to be able to lane for almost an indefinite time, but I tend to go back whenever I have the gold for my next item in my build providing I have tele up. Try to NEVER go back without tele up. Merc treads are your next item due to them simply being the best boots galio can get and then your going to finish your RoA then grab Aegis of legion to give all-round tankyness. After this your going to vary your build depending on the opponents team. More or less it will go like this:

1.
Who is most fed?
If AD grab chainmail, if AP grab negatron cloak

2.
What do they have more of, AP or AD?
If the opposite to 1 then grab the corresponding negatron/chainmail. If it's the same then your going to grab either abyssal sceptre or sunfire cape.

3.
Finish off whatever is left of sunfire cape and abyssal sceptre unless their team is a majority AP or majority AD in which case grab frozen heart or FoN next.

4.
If you have abyssal + sunfire then you need to take another look at how the games going and choose your last item based on what damage you take more of. If it's even or your not sure then a guardian angel is almost always a safe bet. But Frozen Heart and FoN are strong if their team is leaning towards AD or AP slightly more.

If you have abyssal + FoN grab sunfire unless their team is COMPLETELY AP in which case go for a Spirit Visage or

If you have sunfire + frozen heart grab abyssal sceptre unless their team is COMPLETELY AD in which case a randuins omen or thornmail.

Bulky Caster Galio:

This build can be used if you find yourself with a lot off-tanky players in your team. For example if you had a jungling nocturne, a mid swain and your support was someone like taric, in which case it can really pay to go for a bit more damage at the sacrifice of some survivability. This is not the main use for this build however, now and again your going to have that kennen, missfortune, amumu & fiddlesticks on your team that are going to just love extra AoE damage. Abyssal sceptre is required on this team and in some cases you may even want to rush it after boots before you have RoA. In either case if you want to do more damage then this is the build I reccomend you use. If you finish it the actual AP you hit is round-about 590-ish.

League of Legends is a team based, real time strategy game set in a mythical world of swords & magic where epic battles decide the fate of mystical nations. Game players take on the role of a Summoner who conjures and controls champions to fight for them at the Institute of War. During game play champions gain experience and items to enhance their skills and abilities. How players develop and play their champions can be the difference between a crushing defeat or a glorious victory!